BLADE: Were listening to
an interview I did with Morrissey on Thursday after he
talked live with Jed the Fish. And before the interview I
should tell you that the record company said, Whatever
you do, dont talk about the Smiths, and dont
talk about like older music! But as you can hear from the
interview, Morrissey was more than happy to talk about
the Smiths. In fact, he was the one who brought up the
idea of the Smiths. Then I thought, you know, as
its going to be an all-request Fourth of July
weekend at KROQ, wouldnt it be cool if Morrissey
chose some music himself? So, after I finished the
interview I thought I would lead into getting Morrissey
to choose some songs by asking him about the kind of
music he was currently listening to:

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Im listening to the Smoking Popes new
album, which I dont think has been released yet.
Its called Destination Failure, and
its excellent. And a group from England called
Travis. Have you heard of them? (B: Not Travis,
no.) Yeah, and ummm... probably nobody else, I
dont think.

B: Now with the Smoking Popes we played
"Need You Around", and everybody said,
"Sounds like Morrissey!"M: Yes, they said that too in England, yes they
did. And I bought the album, and I just thought it was
extraordinary  the most lovable thing Id
heard for years. I think he has a great voice. Are they
big here?

B: That last single was, that "Need You
Around" single. But since then they havent
been played that much. (M: Yeah, yeah)
Are there any other similarities that you find? Or is it
just that one single?M: Oh, no! I love the entire album, and
its unusual for me to buy a cd and to like every
single track. I mean if I buy a cd and I like three
tracks, I consider it to be a good cd. But in the boring
old days of vinyl, if I bought an album and I didnt
like the whole thing, Id consider it to be failure.
But I feel a bit more generous towards cds, so I thought
that it was excellent.

B: Youre listening to
the all-request Fourth of July Flashback weekend.
Morrissey was in the studio, and I said, What do you want
to hear? And he gave me a list of songs that I have in my
hand. I said, Go ahead, you introduce them. Ill
just roll the DAT tape, and you talk about them. And he
said, "No, I cant do that, Richard.
Youve got to ask me questions about them." So
I said, "Okay. The first one you want up is the
Clash, right?"

[cut to
pre-recorded interview]
M: Its a great song.

B: What do you like about it?M: I think its nice and British and very
urban and quite violent and so forth, very west London.["London
Calling" (1979) by the Clash]

B: Its the all-request
flashback weekend. Morrissey has taken over the radio
station, and heres his request for Siouxsie.

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Yes, another great single, a hit in England, certainly
not here, I dont think. But they were one of the
great groups of the late 70s, early 80s and very
underrated, I think. Siouxsie and the Banshees were
excellent.["Spellbound"
(1981) by Siouxsie and the Banshees]

[commercial break]B: Im Richard Blade, and Morrissey has
taken over the radio station. When I interviewed him a
few days ago I said you can choose anything you want to
hear for this all-request flashback weekend. And this one
was for Iggy and the Stooges, "Search and
Destroy".

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Yes, which is a very L.A. song to me, dont you
think? And did you remember EMFs version a few
years ago? A very, very good version, I thought. A great
song, "Search and Destroy".

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Magazine are an overlooked Manchester group. In
assessments of Manchester, they never mention Magazine. I
dont know why. An excellent group, very strong, and
this was the first single in England that really had
attention. Great lyrics.

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: This was the third single, "Street Life",
and it was the first track on the third album, Stranded.
And I think it reached #10 in England. Excellent unique
sound, a very, very unique group in their early years.
They certainly slipped under water a bit when they became
famous, but this is a very unique sound.

B: Morrissey has chosen the
songs on DAT. Now, after choosing some of his favorite
songs from the 70s and 80s, I said, Morrissey, now please
put the spotlight on yourself if you could. I would like
you to choose your favorite Smiths song. And he turned to
me, and he said, "Shoplifters of the World
Unite". And I said, "Why?"

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Oh, very, very witty single and a great moment for the
Smiths in England. I think it was probably the best days
of our career. It was just a very funny time and a time
of very sparky rebellion, and this song, more than any, I
think, exemplifies that. I like it.

B: You are listening to
Morrisseys choices for his favorite songs, and now
we know his all-time favorite Smiths song,
"Shoplifters of the World Unite". And I said,
"Well okay, Morrissey, how about your solo work?
Youve been with the Smiths for five years,
youve been solo for ten, which song do you want to
play?" And he said, "I think I want to play
'Alma Matters'." The new single.

[cut to pre-recorded
interview]
M: Yes, its the new single, and I think its
great. By all means make your own mind up. Alma matters.
She does!

[Alma Matters]

B: Thats
Morrisseys choice for his favorite Morrissey song,
the brand new single from his upcoming cd Maladjusted.
Thats "Alma Matters". And thank you so
much for listening to this little Morrissey interview
that we did a few days ago. Just a recap if youre
just tuning in, Morrissey will be coming in concert. The
Los Angeles date: October the 13th.
And to quote Morrissey, there is no chance that he will
cancel unless hes dead. And hopefully thats
not going to happen, so were really looking forward
to seeing Morrissey in concert. Of course, KROQ will
being bringing that to you. Thanks a lot for being part
of this all-request Fourth of July flashback weekend. Had
a lot of fun playing your requests over the weekend,
playing Morrisseys requests just now and talking
with the guy. He is, as always, a gentleman and a very,
very intelligent musician. A lot of people say hes
morose, but uh, hes not exactly the most
forthcoming person, but you can ask him just about
anything. A couple of things I wish I mentioned to him
was about his obsession with the tv show Friends. Forgot
to ask him. Next time I will...